Mr Cabdriver

(Another gem, found on my laptop!)

Besides being a good song by Lenny Kratvitz, it also refers to a rather popular source of employment. Recently, I went out for a walk in a two mile loop near my house. While I was walking, I suddenly became aware of the sound of footsteps coming up close behind me. They came closer and closer and eventually I knew I was about to be passed. Now, I happen to be somewhat competitive and I hate when I get passed by fellow walkers, as it makes me feel rather incompetent. Especially, when the walker turns out to be someone in their 70s or 80s! *sigh – that happens more often than I’d like to admit*

Enter Gary, the cabdriver. He was my walker-stalker on that fine evening, and, naturally, he appeared to be in his 60s. I slowed down to allow him to pass by, but instead he suddenly shouted “Hello!”, slowed his pace, and started asking me questions. He wanted to know all about who I was and what on earth a Canadian was doing in this wee village. I also learned a fair amount about him along the way. We walked for around a mile together before we parted ways. I had to laugh at the situation – this would certainly never have happened in Edinburgh! If someone suddenly shouted “Hello!” and started asking me questions about who I was when I was walking through the Meadows or Holyrood Park, I probably would have turned and ran the other way!

UPDATE: I have since ran into Gary several times! Once, he picked me and Keri up in his cab, and once he walked in on Keri and I trying to get a photo op with two unsuspecting donkeys on the side of the rode (see picture evidence below - the second donkey is behind Keri).

Random Odd Facts

Here's an old post that's been hiding on my laptop . . .

1. When I moved to Scotland, I learned that they didn’t say the word “lake”, they said loch instead. For example, think of Loch Ness. However, in Northern Ireland they use the word “lough”, which is pronounced the same as loch, but spelled in a completely different way. Therefore:

Lake = Loch = Lough

2. Number of churches I’ve seen so far called St. Patrick’s: 3 and counting.

3. Funniest school name I’ve seen so far: Tempo Controlled Primary School. It’s found in a wee village called Tempo. I’m not sure what the controlled part refers to though . . .

4. Names that make me laugh:

• Ballyshannon, Ballymoney, Ballynakelly, and pretty much any town/village/hamlet with the word "bally" in it
• Belcoo. It's a village not far from here that I just like the sound of. If you divide it into the two syllables of "bel" and "coo" you get "pretty cow" if you use the french word for pretty "belle" and the scots word for cow "coo". At least, that's what I think of every time I see it.
• Smurfit something something. This is the name of some company that we drive by whenever we go to Belfast. OBVIOUSLY it reminds me of the smurfs!
  

Aix-en-Provence, France

I know I seem to be skipping around a lot here and not writing for a long time, but the problem is that I have a few items to post on my laptop, which is at home where I have no internet. When I am at work, where there is internet, I do not have my laptop. So, I will skip ahead to my upcoming adventure in France and, hopefully later today, I will find time to post about my more recent adventures.

On Wednesday, I will land in Aix-en-Provence, France where I expect to get up to much mischief with my friend JenMac over the course of the next few days. I have never been to that part of France before and I am a bit nervous about purchasing my train ticket to Aix, as I have no idea how to pronounce it. Also, I think I just have a slight complex when it comes to buying rail tickets in France anyway, due to a previous embarrassing experience: I can speak French well enough, but when I go for long stretches without using the language I tend to forget key words that I would normally know. Like the word for "Tuesday". One of the first things you learn in French are the days of the week and for some reason when I was traveling in France a few years ago and trying to book a train ticket for the following Tuesday, I completely forgot the word for Tuesday. Instead, I managed to say (in French, I might add) "Not Monday, but the day after" and the lady at the counter looked at my kind of funny and said "Mardi?" and I said, rather enthusiastically,"Oui!!!!! Mardi!!!!!" and managed to successfully book the ticket.

Anyway, I am really looking forward to travelling in another country for a bit and France is one of my favourites. I am not sure what we will get up to, but there has been some talk of hiking, visiting Avignon, and of course plenty of French cuisine (aka baguettes) and eau de France (wine).

See you soon Miss JenMac!!